Inland Rail is approaching, and residents need to get up to speed

Australian Rail Track Corporation is planning to carry freight, including coal, along the line from 2024-25, with around 40 services per day.

The Times recently spoke with a resident of South Maclean who has seen the trains and the noise on the line increase over the decades. The prospect of dust – possibly from coal – and higher levels of vibration from train movements, is not great.

The Times has been contacted by a range of residents seeking more information about ARTC’s plan, and has witnessed Crs Smith and Dalley make impassioned pleas for Logan City Council to raise issues with the federal government on the community’s behalf.

The section of railway line has long been the focus of community hopes for passenger services from our suburbs into central Brisbane, but with the bulk of the debate focussed on freight, the possibility of moving people on the same line seems to have been drowned out.

A working group is in the pipeline, but it feels like well past time for the community to have much easier access to accurate and definite information about the whole Inland Rail project, and a voice.

The Times contacted federal member for Wright Scott Buchholz, who issued a statement that will be published in a future edition. “I am very pleased that an extensive community consultation process is taking place as part of the planning and construction phase, providing the opportunity to raise local concerns,” he said, and advised concerned locals to contact ARTC directly.

For such a major and crucial piece of national infrastructure, it just feels as though the flow of definite information is far too slow.